If you saw the picture I posted on Facebook Saturday after my run, you already know I got a little ... well, lost ... and ended up running an extra 1.5 miles that morning for a total of 10.5 instead of 9. Now, thanks to actually studying the map (better late than never?), I have seen the error of my wayfinding, and I'll know better next time I'm visiting my family and need to get in a long run.
I started on the far west end of the Mockingbird Trail (purple on the map) and ran until the Eldridge Pkwy bridge, at which point you have to switch to the north side of the bayou. I continued along the north side on the Quail Trail (green) all the way past Kirkwood to go 4.5 miles before turning around (remember - the goal was a total of 9 miles). On the way back, I mistakenly assumed that I could cross back over to the south side of the bayou via the bridge across the bayou at the Blue Jay trail (blue).
What I didn't realize is that in order to cross at that bridge, I'd have to take the northern spur up the Cardinal Trail (red) first. I realized I'd definitely made the wrong choice when I saw the I-10 freeway. Oops. I finally checked the next "You Are Here" trail map I saw, and realized that I could get back to the bridge I needed to cross over, but only after a pretty significant detour.
I did, indeed, finally manage to make my way back to the car, with quite a bit of unplanned additional mileage. On the upside, I'm feeling better about my training for the Donna half in a few weeks!
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